So Be It
by SarcasticEnigma
Summary: COMPLETE! The story of Briesis' sister, Iole. Her long, winding life as a slave to both men and the Gods alike, to her sudden death at her own hand. OC 1st person POV! ONESHOT! R&R!


**_A/N: _**I wrote this a while ago after seeing _Troy_ a few times. I've always loved the story of Tojan War and _hated _that both Hector and Achilles had to die. So unfair that such great warriors had to perish. Back to the point: the only character I own is Iole (Eye-O-Lee). I do not own Paris, Hector, Achilles, Briseis, Priam, Agamemnon, Helen, Menelaus, Odysseus or even Adrastus, Merops I, Hestia, Agathos Daimon, Ate, Eris, Lachesis, Moros and Tyche. I wish I did, but sadly no. This is the story of Iole who is definately not a Mary-Sue and the whole thing is written in her POV. Thanx to everyone who reviewed the first time around: good and bad! Your personal tributes are at the end along with a few explainations.

_**So Be It**_

I had many names in my time in Greece. Some called me Evanelia the Bringer of Good News. Others called me Melpomene after the Muse of Tragedy, claiming that was all I brought. Then there was simply Pythia the Prophetess and Sibylla the Oracle. But the name I heard the most was Theophane the Gods Incarnate. I am no God or Goddess, far from it. I am just a simple woman, treated though like a child, from the land Lyrnessus; born into royalty but never felt welcome. All I ever wished in my life was to be free from my gilded cage--one way or another. Now I am.

My name is Iole, a Princess of Troy, with eyes of Poseidon's realm and hair of the burnt and ashen soil. I am sacred Advisor to King Adrastus III, Ruler of Percote. My dear cousins, Hector and Paris, faced much in their lives. My dear sister, Briseis, has faced much too. All honorable and loved in their own ways, enemy or not. Yet, here I stand at the gates of the Gods and Goddesses I was taught to honor and respect--waiting for an answer to my prayers. Prayers that while I was alive were never anwsered. The reason, I believe, is because I am cursed with the Sight of what was, what is, and what has yet come to pass.

My King was the son of the Seer Merops I who had tried to dissuade him from risking his and his son's lives in the war against Troy--as did I. He finally listened and allied himself with my uncle, King Priam, instead of with King Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus. During the war, Adrastus was captured by Menelaus to whom he said his father, being a wealthy man, would pay for him a rich ransom. He was killed by Agamemnon or perhaps by Diomedes II, I cannot be certain since I did not see his killer clearly in my vision. I was captured as well, sadly while walking along the ocean sands thinking of what was coming, and kept as a spoil of war just as my sister was. We had been reunited after so long. I only wished the circumstances could have been better.

One night I decided to escape. When stopped by Menelaus, I told him I was going to pray to the Gods for his victory over Troy. He belived me but only because he was drunk. The red wine spilled over his clothes and stained the beach as the blood of the men of my county had. Pray I did, but cursing Menelaus to the Gods...and myself. Briseis would not come with me; she intended to stay with Achilles. She could not hide her love for him, not from me, and I could not force her to come so I ran. I ran straight into Troy's gates and to my uncle's feet. He and my cousins were shocked to see such a thing. They were even more shocked to discover who I was. They believed me to be dead--long dead. I cried at a man's feet who I had not seen in years, a man who thought me a ghost, and begged mercy from him; not to live but to die a swift death as not to return to the enemy and be their slave as I had been for twelve years.

My parents were cruel to me and bathed my sister in all she desired. She did not care though, Briseis was a modest child and loved me when others would not. That love did not last long. Our parents were cruel because of my Sight and instead of seeing the good it could have brought them, they saw only a child of evil spawned by the dark Goddesses Ate of misfortune and Eris of discord and strife. So, they sent me away to their greatest friend when I was seven, King Merops I, in hopes he would kill me for them. For some reason, even though they believed me to be bewitched, they couldn't bring the sword down upon my throat. But their plan failed. Merops saw what they did not and merely lied to them. Instead of believing me the spawn of Ate and Eris, he believed me a child blessed by Lachesis God of woven fate, Moros God of destiny and Tyche the Titan of fate and fortune. Whether or not my parents or my former King's beliefs were true, I do not know. But in his beliefs, Merops told my parents he had killed me but, in actuality, kept me for himself as his sons second Seer just behind him...and his son's future wife.

I refused many times on the marriage between Adrastus and myself and many times I was beaten for my insolence. At last the Gods smiled upon me, or so I believed, as I had a dream which gave me a plan to stop our marriage. I informed King Merops that if I married and my husband took advantage on our wedding night, then the Gods would punish my husband by taking my Sight. He believed and I remained pure and just a dear friend to Adrastus. I was not the only one pleased by this news. Adrastus was pleased himself for he grew up with me and saw me as a friend and _only_ a friend. But I was not a friend when he asked me to tell him his fortune on his fateful day of battle and I lied. He believed he was going to face Sparta and win, instead he faced Sparta and paid for my lies with his life. I killed my best friend. How many people can say that?

At my uncle's feet I wept and begged and did not care if I shamed him, my cousins or even the Gods. I just wanted to die and have my curse removed from the world where it could never hurt another soul. In all his wisdom, my uncle did not kill me but took my face in his old hands and swore I would be safe--now and forever. He sent me away to a guest room to be washed, clothed properly and fed. I had a home again, a family and all I wanted to do was jump from the balcony across from my bed and save them the trouble of protecting me like they were Helen, the whore of Sparta.

Hector came to me as I tried to jump and caught me in time. He saved me and seeing him again, his smile, and hearing his comforting and commanding voice...it was as if I had never left my home and as if I had never stopped seeing him. I loved my cousins--both of them--but Hector had always been there when I needed him as a child. I could always talk to him when he visited and always expected letters from him when he left. Though he was much older than I, I was always told I was wiser than he. That was true in a small sense. He told me that Menelaus would not touch me--that none of theGreeks would. He swore he would protect me in the memory of my dead King just as he would Helen for Paris. I foolishly belived him. I can remember our conversation even now.

_"Iole." Hector called as he opened the door to her room. "Iole. Iole?" He looked at the bed and walked closer to it and then he saw her climbing over the edge of the balcony. "Iole, stop! What are you doing?"_

_"No! No! Stop, Hector! Stop!" She yelled and cried as he pulled her back into her room. She struggled to escape his hands but he was much stronger than her being a man. "Why! Why do you stop me from doing what I so desperately desire! What the Gods beckon me to do! " She sobbed as he forced her to look at him. "Answer me, cousin! Why!"_

_"Just because of that! You are my cousin! The blood of my blood! Did you expect me to let you plunge to your death?" He asked furiously pushing her to sit down on her bed, but still blocking her in case she decided to run for the edge._

_"You have no right! Not after twelve years do you have the right to tell me what to do! I spent that time obeying orders from a tyrant and a friend--a friend who is now dead because of me! Do you know how that feels, cousin? To know that you not only lied to your only friend--your best and truest friend--but to know you killed him because of it?" She shouted standing up to face him, tears still strolling down her face. "Do you!" After he gave no response she wiped her eyes and backed away from him. "That is what I thought."_

_"True, I do not know what you have been through. I thought you dead--we all did. But you are alive, Iole, you are alive. You know nothing of the grief you put father, Paris and myself through when we recieved word of your death. Nor do you know of the pain you caused Briseis." She scoffed under her breath and shook her head slightly. The thought of hurting Briseis never entered her mind when she was "dead." In fact, she thought it best not to think of her or any of them. That made it easier to forget the life she knew and missed everyday. "That is what I thought. You never thought of her did you, of any of us when you left? When you ran away." She looked up at him in shock. How could he call being sent away to be killed running away?_

_"Ran away? Ran away! Is that what they told you?" Hector nodded and she gasped in disbelief at how her parents cruelty even touched him. They were like a plague that saw no end once it began. "I didn not run away, Hector. I was sent away to King Melrop I to be killed." His eyes went wide as she spoke, hanging on every word. "He kept me alive to be his son, Adrastus', wife. But here I stand, unwed and Adrastrus, the friend I spoke of, is dead."_

_"How did you kill him when you could barely escape from me?" He didn't understand her situation. Iole sighed, knowing she'd have to tell him, and sat down on the bed._

_"The night before today's battle I had a vision. I was sitting in my tent reading my stones and I saw..." She lowered her head as a small tear fell from her eye. "...I saw him being killed by a man. I thought he was being killed for treason. A treason from which he died from by refusing to go into battle after I told him he would die. So, when he came to me to hear his fortune for the next day's battle, I told him I saw a great victory. I lied to him to save him. But...I was wrong. I misread the stones, I misinterpreted my vision and because of that...he is dead. I was captured that same night while out praying for forgiveness." She wiped her eyes and looked up at Hector. "I do not deserve to live, Hector. If anything, I should have died in his place."_

_"You lied believing you were saving him. There is no wrong in that." He comforted, placing a hand to her shoulder and the other to her cheek, forcing her to look at him. "You did what you thought best. There is no shame or blame in what you did."_

_"Then why do I feel so guilty?" She waited but he had no awnser for her, she knew this. "Menelaus will come as strong as ever tomorrow. Not just for Helen now, but for me. He will want to use my Sight for him and his brother's war."_

_"I will not let him touch you. None of Spartan Army shall lay a hand on you again. You are safe within these walls. You are safe with me. I promise you, cousin, in the name of King Adrastus. Do you understand? Iole, do you understand?"_

_"Yes, cousin, I understand." She smiled sorrowfully at him and he returned it in hopes that she would brighten up but it was no use. She had seen too much, not just in her visions but in reality as well._

_"You need to rest. I will leave now but I will return in the morning. I would hate to find out you finished what you started." He said walking toward the door referring to the balcony. She released a small chuckle as he closed the door and she returned to her bed. Pulling the covers around her, she leaned up to the candle next to her ready to blow it out. Before she did so she looked back at the balcony and left the bed. Looking at it in disgust and fear, she took the curtains that had been pulled back and released their ropes, covering the balcony._

That night, I dreamt the worst thing I ever could. I dreamt of Hector fighting Achilles and losing. I foresaw Hector's death and I awoke so suddenly that all I could do was run through the halls to Hector's quarters. In my mind, I told myself I would tell Hector my vision to warn him, save him for his wife and son. But, in my heart, I knew I would only tell him to save him for myself. I loved Hector. He was the brother I always wanted and if he had not been my cousin, I would have loved him as my husband. When I finally reached his door, I found myself feeling so selfish followed by even more guilt. I turned from his door and walked back to my own to try and return to slumber, but with no such luck. I was scared I would see Hector's death again.

After he died, the war went from retrieving a queen to two armies exacting their own revenge. The night Uncle Priam left for the enemy camp to retrieve Hector's body, I went with him in secret. I followed in the shadows--my second home. Whislt he talked to Achilles, I went to Agamemnon's tent. He did what any furious King would do when a slave that ran away does: he yelled at me, he beat me and then...he killed me. The bastard was not alone when he did this. His generals were with him when I returned. Among them was Odysseus, King of Ithica. He was apauled by how Agamemnon treated me and he wanted to stop him, I know this in my ways, but could not risk losing his life when he had his own wife and child to return to. As I bled to death on the tyrant's carpet, I breathed my last with a warning to him: "Save yourself from Hell." The Trojans would bring Hell when the time was right and I regreted that I would not be there to see it. Then again, neither would the Trojans. They lost, Uncle Priam was killed by Agamemnon and Helen escaped her fate with Paris, Andromache, Briseis and Andromache and Hector's son, Astyanax. Unfortunately, my dear sweet sister not only lost me, our cousin and uncle...she lost her lover, Achilles--the only man she ever loved and ever would.

In robes of black I must pay respect to the color I was born to mourn. My arms are only covered by gold bands, more gold is around my neck in which my families seal is placed. Around my head, like all woman of royalty and high stature, is a wreath of gold. At the gates of the Gods and Goddesses I was taught to honor and respect, I wait for an answer to my prayers. Prayers being that I can finally be free and finally be accepted. _That_ has been my wish, after my death, for so long. The gates have finally opened and I see the God and Goddess I prayed to for_ so _long. Agathos Daimon the God and Guardian individuals and families and Hestia the Goddess of hearth. True, Apollo is my countries favored God but these two I have always revered over the others and believed they watched over me.

"Iole, you have seen much in your eighteen years in Greece." Hestia said with a smile. "Not enough time though." I am confused. What does she mean?

"You have the Gift of Sight, child, and because of that you have a connection to us on Mount Olympus." Agathos Daimon said formally. "You are something we call a Demi-Goddess, Iole. Few mortals have the pleasure."

"I do not care about being a Demi-Goddess. All I want is to be free to roam the afterlife and be with my king, cousin and uncle in peace."

"We understand." Hestia replied sweetly walking up to me and placing my face in her hands, just as Uncle Priam had done. "But we cannot allow you to enter our kingdom." Hestia left my face and walked back to her companion's side. My heart fell as I heard that even though I had a connection of some kind to them, I was being cast out. Just as I had been when I was alive.

"Do not despair, Iole. You are not to wander the Underworld for eternity." My God said seeing my saddness. Why he really cared though must be because of his place as a Guardian. "You are to return to Greece--to Troy."

"Why? I know not to question the will of the Gods, but why? I do not understand."

"You were taken before your time. You will return reborn into your former body but good as new; as if no harm had ever come to it. You will live out your life to a healthy old age as you were meant to." The Goddess explained as her companion had turned to leave. "Hector will watch over you in this life as he did in his last, as will Agathos Daimon and I, until you die the death you were meant to. The three of us, Priam and your king will be waiting here until then. Good bye, Iole." She turned away and walked through the gates.

As the gates close behind her, I cannot help but start to cry again. I am weak, tired and lost. All I want right now is to sleep a dreamless sleep and let a _real_ death come over me. But that will not happen and I cannot disobey the God and Goddess I honor above all. So I walk away from my deliverence; back to the world I hate so to a new life with new people to hate and fear me. Perhaps I will go to Briseis, Paris, Helen and Andromache to live in peace. I have lost so much already: my parents, Adrastrus, Uncle Priam...Hector. All of them because of my Sight. My damned Sight! The Gods say I am one of them and yet they cast me out, so I will do the same to them. I will never speak of my visions no matter what they show me. Whether it is of life or death, peace or war. If that is dishonoring the Gods...then so be it.

**_Reviews:_**Queen Arwen: Glad you enjoyed the first version, so I hope you enjoyed this. Also glad to see that I peaked your interest with my OC and my writing.

Simizar Aurelia Hallowell: Even though you think my character is a Mary-Sue, glad you didn't think she was that bad. True, Colette is a French name but it also Greek meaning people's victory. I researched this and used it for the irony considering she never predicted a victory.

AlibethBooks: If you want me to continue this, I'm sorry. I never planned on it. But, if you like, I'd be willing to write a story with you. Just send me an idea, if you have one, and we'll get to work! As my profile says, I'm a Greek Mythology buff and take pride in knowing the different Gods and Goddess. True, not many writers in this section know _anything_ the Gods and their orgins.

Esperanza Fuega: I'm sorry I coined a line from Flogging Molly. They are one of my favorite bands and I love that line _so_ much that I wanted to use it. About the Mary-Sue bit, go to the bottom.

sleepflower: As I told Simizar Aurelia Hallowell, Colette is also a Greek name. Sorry about the Latin, which I knew it was becuase I put the not saying it was Latin, so I got rid of it for you. I forgot that Latin wasn't really used until the Middles Ages and even then it was only in the churches. Evanelia _does_ mean "Bringer of Good News" just like Euangellos. I have read the Iliad and the movie does bear little resemblence to it, but I used teh movie verse so that readers wouldn't be confused. Not many people have read that Iliad.

Lori: Another Mary-Sue complaint. Go to the bottom!

Dark-goddessof the roses15: For the third time, Coletter is also a Greek name meaning people's victory. Another Mary-Sue complaint so go to the bottom. I saw _Troy_ many times before writing the first version, and I have read the Iliad. I worship it! I was sad that Hector and Achillies had to die in both movie and written word because they were such great warriors and really didn't deserve to. Sorry if it didn't come out like that the first time around.

Prophet-Song: Mary-Sue thing at the bottom and Colette is Greek for people's victory.

Dulin: Colette is Greek for people's victory, for the fifth or sixth time, and read the note. I know tons about Greek Mythology since I study every single day. I was following the movie for the sake of readers who only knew of the Trojan from the movie. _Troy_ was horrible in following the Iliad, but good as just an action movie. I have read the Iliad and, as I said before, I love and worship it.

**_Historical Figures: _**King Adrastus III, Merops I or Diomedes II because they were actual characters from the Trojan War.

Adrastus III is son of the seer Merops I, who had tried to dissuade his son from risking their lives in the Trojan War. During the war he was captured alive by Menelaus to whom he said that his father, being a wealthy man, would pay for him a rich ransom. He was killed by Agamemnon or perhaps by Diomedes II. (Hom.Il.6.37ff., 2.830, 11.328.)

All I could find out about Merops I is that he was a Seer and father of Adrastus.

DiomedesII fought in the war of the Epigoni, and later led the Argives against Troy. He was a brave man, whose temerity defied even the gods; but on his return home he was, as other Achaean Leaders, defeated by his own wife, and had to settle in Italy.

**_MARY-SUES: _**A Mary-Sue is an utterly perfect character. She stands in for the author and performs every heroic feat known to fandom, often outdoing the main characters of the story. She is beautiful, fit, wise and incredibly intuitive. She is either the best friend, lover, or unrequited love of the most handsome and desirable male character. She often has psychic or supernatural powers, which she uses in the most predictable and boring ways. She is introduced without preamble, has not a single weakness or flaw and can kick the butt of the most powerful person in the story. In short, she's annoying and cliched.

Iole is not perfect, does not stand in for me, does not perform every heroic feat known to fandom. She's not fit or all that wise, but intuitive because of her gift. She is not the nest friend, lover or unrequited love of any character. She does have a psychic power but doesn't have controll over it, or use it in boring ways since she can only seem to predict bad events. She has weaknesses and flaws: overly emotional, self-loathing, suicidal, hateful yet still respectful of mortals who hate her. She can't fight at all and though she can be annoying, she's not cliched.

So, there you have it! Hope all of you liked this better than the first verison!


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